It’s Out! HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS/A GALACTIC HOLIDAY!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yippee!  At long last, it’s December 3^rd—release day for HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS and A GALACTIC HOLIDAY!  This is the day I’ve been waiting for since May 10^th, 2012—the day I got “The Call” from the editor of this project, Angela James.

 

How did that call go, exactly? Um… Let me set the background first.  Earlier in the year (April 13^th, to be exact), I was in Chicago for business, doing the everyday job at a figure skating competition.  RT Con was also taking place AT THAT TIME, and IN THAT CITY.  Whoa, right?  Talk about stars aligning! 

Since this was the coincidence of the century, I let Carina Press know that while I wasn’t attending RT, I’d be in town.  I was thrilled when I got an invitation to a Carina Press “Authors Only” cocktail party, and that’s where I got to meet so many fabulous people who are also incredibly talented writers.  This is also where I met Angela James, and the first thing I noticed about her were her smexy Queen of Hearts shoes.  Seriously y’all, this chick has earned her shoe rep honestly.  I’m still suffering pangs of shoe envy. :P

 

After some mingling and shop talk with everyone—and my first chocolate martini where I discovered there are some alcoholic beverages I really like—I got my sleeve tugged on by Angela, who said she needed to talk to me before I left.  Had she noticed I was tonguing out the chocolate syrup left in the martini glass? (Yeah, that’s me, Ms. Elegant *snort*)  But of course, in the back of my mind was the list of manuscripts I’d already sent to her.  One had been there since November, one in December, and a couple more, including GLITCH, since March.  I knew she couldn’t tell me anything about GLITCH, as it was an open-sub call that had a specific time when all entrants would be notified.  But the others…

We moved to the front of the restaurant, and she smiled casually while I was dying inside.  Maybe she really was about to yell at me for tonguing the chocolate.  Oh God, did I have a ring of chocolate around my mouth…?

 

“Soooooooooo…We would like to acquire all three of the manuscripts you sent us.  Is that all right?”

 

It was like an out-of-body experience.  Every writer DREAMS of being told, in person, by a stellar editor, at a cocktail party overflowing with awesome writers and alcohol-infused chocolate, that multiple projects are being snapped up.  It was a perfect moment.  Nothing could spoil it.

 

Until…

 

“Oh, fuck.”

 

I heard someone swearing.  How rude.

 

“Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”

 

Oh my God, that someone was me!

 

And I wasn’t just swearing.  Oh, no.  I was dropping the F-bomb.  Wait.  No, again.  It was SO much worse than that.  I was CARPET-BOMBING Morton’s Steakhouse with the F-bomb.  Also, just to make sure my idiocy had reached its zenith, I was jumping up and down like I was on the frigging Price Is Right and I’d just guessed the closest price to a front-load washer/dryer set.  All I could do was pray Angela would get a convenient case of amnesia and forget ever meeting me.

 

Which leads me right back to The Call on May 10^th.

 

I love doing open-sub calls, because there’s a set time.  This one from Carina was simple—get the story in by the second week in March, hear back by the second week in May.  So, like everyone else who subbed a project, I began carrying every type of phone I could with me around May 7^th.  Ironically enough, I wasn’t quite prepared when the call did come.  But when I realized it wasn’t an irritating telemarketer, but rather Angela calling to ask how the weather was—tornado watch or warning, I can’t remember which—my heart was in my throat.  But!...I wasn’t going to blow it this time.  I could show that I was capable of holding onto my composure.  As God as my witness, I would act in a dignified manner!

 

Angela:  “Soooooooo… you probably know why I’m calling, but just to make it official, we would like to acquire HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS, if that’s all right with you.”

 

Me:  “……wwwWWWWHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh fuck, that’s awesome!”  Then I gasped.  “Shit, I’m sorry!”  That wasn’t much better.  “I…I’m just…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” <--Hysterical cackling for approximately two minutes straight. (For those of you who know me personally, you know what this sounds like.  For those of you who don’t, I once had a skating student secretly record one of my laughing fits so she could have it as her ring tone.  Teenagers.  Hmph)

 

I remember very little of the conversation after that, except for her dry comment, “Since I’ve seen this in person, I can totally picture you now.”  I’ll bet she was picturing me doing The Price Is Right bouncy thing.  And...yeah, I'll admit it.  I was bouncing right out of my flip flops.

 

So here we are, at long last, the release day for HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS!  My editors now know me a lot better than they did a year ago, but I'm still determined to make a good impression.  I'm going to RT Con this year, my first convention ever, so I'm hoping I can just be a quiet mouse in the corner and watch how it's done--no squealing, no jumping up and down, no F-bombs.  Just dignity.


And did I mention one of my books is releasing today?  WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! *streaks*



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